The Comic Strip Scene This Week
Skip to comments
Good Timing? Bad Timing?
The above Pearls Before Swine appeared two days after the announced death of Pope Francis. Some, who know nothing of lead times, took it as a swipe at that passing. Others took for what it was – just a case of timing. I agree with Stephan Pastis about obituary cartoons but was amazed at the lack of cartoons featuring Pope Francis at the Pearly Gates with Saint Peter. I think I only saw two or so of those, most seemed to have him walking on clouds.
Stepan Pastis, by the way, is (or was) in the United Arab Emirates entertaining children:
On Friday evening, the Reading Corner at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF2025) transformed into a playground of imagination, wit, and artistic discovery as American author and illustrator Stephan Pastis took the stage. For children as young as six, it was an hour of laughter and learning from the man behind the wildly popular Timmy Failure series and the long-running comic strip, Pearls Before Swine.
Armed with nothing but a sketchpad, a marker, and a beautiful sense of humour, Pastis guided his audience through the art of cartooning, showing how a simple tweak of the eyebrows could conjure up a world of emotion. “Want to draw a grumpy face? Bring the eyebrows together and point them upwards. For a bored face, angle them down. That’s all there is to it,” he quipped, as beanbag-bound children followed along, giggling.
The Strange Case of the Disappearing Vintage Johnny Hazard
For one day, maybe two, Vintage Johnny Hazard was dropped from the Comics Kingdom list of comic strips and from my daily favorites lineup. It returned to the list today (I think) but not yet to my daily feed.
On a more minor note I see Comics Kingdom has changed the “favorites” symbol from a heart to a star.
The Strange Case of the Reappearing Phoebe and Her Unicorn
While over at GoComics Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson will return to daily appearances, though only the Sundays will be new.
The timeline for the return is “coming soon.”
Before we leave Dana Simpson and the GoComics Facebook page we’ll note their proud note about this year’s National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award nominees:
Yeah, something I didn’t notice when reporting on the 79th Annual Reuben Awards earlier this month – all nominees are from the Andrews McMeel stable. We’ll have to check to see when the last time that happened.
Six Chix – Three of one, Trio of another
It seems that Stephanie Piro and Isabella Bannerman have dragged Maritsa Patrinos over to the strip side. The Six Chix panel now seems to be “strip” as often as “panel” with the above three mostly going with the strip format of multiple panels while Bianca Xunise, Mary Lawton, and Susan Camilleri Konar mostly continue with the single panel format the comic feature began as.
In with the new
In our latest episode of Inside the Kingdom, we had the pleasure of chatting with Everett Samuel Glenn, better known as E.S. Glenn—an incredibly gifted cartoonist, painter, and performer whose artistic voice is both deeply personal and universally relatable.
His acclaimed graphic novels, Unsmooth #1 and Unsmooth #2: BUM, boldly explore themes like societal expectations, masculinity, and the intricacies of the art world. Beyond the underground comic scene, his work has also been featured prominently in mainstream publications, notably The New Yorker, and now on Comics Kingdom with his series “New Tricks.”
Comics Kingdom’s Alex Garcia interviews new Comics Kingdom cartoonist E. S. Glenn.
In with the old
I won’t go into a detailed description of Irving’s career, as I’ve already covered that in this article I wrote for Hogan’s Alley #16 back in 2009. Irving’s work, with his wonderfully active pen line, dry-brush shading, and terrific figure movement, has always appealed to me. Given that, when I ran across this promotional booklet for Willie Doodle…
Rob Stolzer at his Inkslingers blog presents the 1946 promotional booklet for Willie Doodle by Jay Irving.
Comments 6
Comments are closed.